Non-Fiction

The Mimic Men By V. S. Naipaul

The Mimic Men By V. S. Naipaul Summary, Themes & Character Sketch

Literature, English Literature, Non-Fiction, Novel
The Mimic Men By V. S. Naipaul
The Mimic Men By V. S. Naipaul

Introduction

            ‘The Mimic Men’ is a novel by V. S. Naipaul, first published by Andre Deutsch, A British published, in the UK in 1967. It centres on Ranjit “Ralph” Singh, a politician of both West and West Indian origin. The novel presents the condition of a newly independent country in the Caribbean, the island of Isabella and projects before us the Condition of the people in the postcolonial era. The little of the novel signifies the condition of colonized men who imitate and reflect colonizers’ lifestyles and views.

About Author

            Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul commonly known as V. S. Naipaul is one of the most prominent authors, novelists, essayists, editors and writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. He wrote over 30 books in the fiction and non-fiction genres, in his fifty years of Journey as a writer.

Among his world-famous works Included – ‘In a free state’, ‘A House for Mr. Biswas’, ‘A Bend in the River’, ‘The Enigma of Arrival’ and ‘The Mimic Men’. He won lots of Literary prizes during his whole literary career, such as – he won the ‘Booker Prize’ in 1971 for his novel ‘In a Free State’. He won the Jerusalem Prize in 1963 and 1989 he was awarded the Trinity Cross, Trinidad and Tabagos highest national honour. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.

Character Sketch Of Ralph Singh

            Ralph Singh is the protagonist and narrator of the novel ‘The Mimic Men’, written by V. S. Naipaul. Naipaul speaks his mind and life through Ralph’s character throughout the novel. Ralph faces the issue of identity crisis which Naipaul also faced at certain points of time in his life. His life in Trinidad was the same as Ralph’s in Isabella.

Ralph has confused memories of his childhood and Western culture has affected him internally as well as externally. He has completely adopted the English way of lifestyle. Naipaul defies his roots, culture and traditions which were followed by his ancestors and is constantly tormented by the Dilemma of identity crisis. Ralph follows Leini as she tries to groom him as a perfect Englishman. He starts thinking in the same way how Leini made him think,

“We become what we see of
 ourselves in the eyes of others.”

            Ralph is a good example of a person who is torn apart by his inner and outer self. A sense of non-belongingness prevails throughout the novel which makes him restless and leads to a non-ending conflict. The whole order of events in Ralph’s life is a replica of Naipaul’s life. Ralph met his wife Sandra while studying in London Like Naipaul who met Patricia during his college days in London. Both of them got married to English girls to be a part of that society where they did not belong. There is a quest to find their true identities.

Ralph a New Name

            Singh remembers very little about his childhood as he has bleak memories of his school, classmates and textbooks that were taught there. All of these were greatly influenced by the western culture. The earliest memory that he has of his school is about giving an apple to his teacher which again illustrates his fondness for Western culture as he carried an orange thinking of it as an apple.

“My first memory of school is of
 Taking an apple of the teacher.
 This puzzles me. We had no apples
 on Isabella. It must have been
 an orange, yet my memory insists on
 the apple. The editing is clearly at fault,
 but the editing version is all I have.”

            It was in this pursuit of imitating Western Culture that Singh gave himself a new name ‘Ralph’ to relate to that culture to which he did not belong. He pretended to be someone else and thought himself to be extraordinary with his new name. He believed that a western name ‘Ralph’ would earn him status in his school life Deschampsneufs (Ralph’s classmate) was appreciated by his teacher and classmates.

Marriage With Sandra

            Ralph’s arrival in London was with the dream of finding an identity. However, he had moments of confusion and crisis of being lost during his stay in the city of his dream:

“Those of us who came to it
 lost some of our Solidity: we
 were trapped into fixed, flat pictures.”

            It was during this time of disappointment that his endeavour to find an identity ended up with the marriage to an English woman, Sandra. Ralph transforms himself into a new individual after the wedding with Sandra by his side. He believes he can now stand tall in Isabella, with a British lady as his wife. In Sandra, he finds solace and feels more confident.

“I had such confidence in her rapaciousness, such confidence in her as someone who could come to no harm – a superstitious reliance on her, which was part of the strength I drew from her.”

            Thus, Ralph was haunted by his search for his true identity throughout his life.

Summary of The Mimic Men

                        The novel ‘The Mimic Men’ story is divided into three parts. The First part begins with Single, already, already disgraced in exile, sitting in his room at a London boarding house. At forty, he reflects upon the events of this career, contemplating ‘The Shipwreck which all my life I had sought to avoid Chronologically, Singh’s remembrances are untidy, beginning as they do with his years as a young man in London. Before his public, Singh deliberately takes on the role of an affluent colonial dandy inwardly, he is anxious and aimless.

            Following many frivolous affairs Ralph meets and marries Sandra, a woman disappointed owing to her humble origins and her failure to win a university scholarship. Singh returns to Isabella with Sandra, using his inheritance to build Kripalville, a posh suburb. Success and riches do not prevent the resurrection of old anxieties about life on an Obscure island composed of the sons of slaves. Both Ralph and Sandra sense the shapelessness of Isabellan society and experience ‘A feeling of having been flung off the world.’

            The Second part of the novel describes Ralph Singh’s childhood and exposes the source of the aimlessness that torments his family. At home, Ralph lives under the Shadow of a disaffected father, whose career as a school teacher leaves him unfulfilled. His father also recognizes that as an Asian, he is detached from his country of origin, Condemned, in a sense to being shipwrecked on a tiny Caribbean island.

Eventually, Singh’s father seeks the island. Eventually, Singh’s father seeks out the island’s lowly disenchanted black workers and leads them away from the miseries of the city to the pristine reaches of the Isabellan forests. His messianic message makes him famous, even in England. The movement, however, soon fades, the blacks filter back to the city, while their Asian deliverer, yellow-robed, remains in the forest as a Hindu holy man.

            It is at school that Singh meets Ethelbert Browne, a black student on scholarship. Their strained and nervous friendship is important to the story, for later, Browne will draw Singh into the unpredictable world of Isabellan politics.

            At the beginning of Part 3, Singh, divorced and unhappy, joins Browne, together they are the new men who challenge the government. Editing a paper called ‘The Socialist’, Browne organised a Political movement of the dispossessed which ultimately swept the election. Browne is elevated to the status of folk leader, with suggestions of a cult of personality, and Singh is given an important position in government. After four years, however, Singh dramatically fell from power when his negotiations to nationalize the sugarcane industry failed. At forty years of age, Ralph is forced into exile to live out his days in private reflection.

Themes Of “The Mimic Men”

Mimicry and Identity

 This central theme explores the psychological and cultural effects of colonialism on postcolonial societies. The title itself refers to how many in these societies, like the protagonist Ralph Singh, feel pressure or even a compulsion to imitate the colonizers’ manners, values and lifestyles. This mimicry, however, leads to a sense of alienation and inauthenticity causing a crisis of identity and belonging.

Postcolonialism and Disillusionment

            The novel portrays the challenges faced by the newly independent notions like Isabella, where Ralph was a politician. Issues like corruption, political instability and economic mismanagement highlight, the difficulties of transitioning from colonial rule to self-governance. Naipaul portrays this with a critical eye, raising questions about the viability of the Western model of democracy in non-Western contexts.

Love and Betrayal

Ralph’s relationships with women, particularly his wife Roberta and his mistress Sandra are riddled with complexities and emotional betrayals. These relationships reflect the broader themes of postcolonial dislocation and the difficulty of forging genuine connections in a society grappling with its identity.

Failure and Self-Deception

Throughout the novel, Ralph grapples with a sense of personal and political failure. His political career ends in disappointment and his relationships are marked by instability and dissatisfaction.

Memory and The Search for Meaning

As Ralph writes his memoirs in exile, he reflects on his past and tries to make sense of his life. This introspective journey highlights the importance of memory in shaping identity and the yearning for meaning in a chaotic and uncertain world.

About The Title

            As the novel’s title, ‘The Mimic Men’ suggests, the colonial society has nothing original. According to Ralph, people in the colonized world have to follow in the footsteps of the colonialists. For Ralph, the protagonist of the novel, the basic issue is a lack of identity, which is reflected by his views and lifestyle. He thinks it is the easiest way to find an identity. So, there is a deliberate attempt by him to assimilate into the English lifestyle and mannerisms.

            Thus, the title “The Mimic Men” is apt and appropriate.

Conclusion

            Thus, the novel “The Mimic Men” unlike V. S. Naipaul‘s previous novels, ends on an optimistic note. After having been through so many failures, the narrator-protagonist still has hope enough to say, “I have cleared the deck, as it tore, and prepared myself for fest action. It will be the action of a Freeman”.

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Lajwanti By Rajinder Singh Bedi

Lajwanti By Rajinder Singh Bedi | Lajwanti Summary & Analysis

Literature, English Literature, Indian Literature, Non-Fiction
Lajwanti By Rajinder Singh Bedi
Lajwanti By Rajinder Singh Bedi

Introduction

            “Lajwanti” By Rajinder Singh Bedi is about a happily married couple who suffered in the riots that resulted in the partition of India. During the partition, tens of thousands of Hindus and Muslims were forced to pack and leave, because suddenly India was divided on the basis of religion. Families who had been living on the ‘Wrong’ side of the border for generations had to migrate, at the moment of notice to their ‘homeland’. In the midst of all this pain, anguish and separation, displaced people began attacking the ‘enemies’ through thefts, violence and abduction, as was the case with the protagonist Sundar Lal and his wife Lajwanti, who was abducted.

About Author

            Rajinder Singh Bedi is considered one of the greatest 20th-century progressive writers of Urdu fiction, and second most prominent writer after Sadat Hasan Manto. He is most known for his haunting tales of partition of the India. His Urdu Novel, translated into English as ‘I Take This Woman’ by Khuswant Singh received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1965. He also worked in Hindi cinema as a film director, screenwriter and dialogue writer. If his memory, the Government of Punjab has started a ‘Rajinder Singh Bedi Award’ in the field of Urdu Literature.

Significance of  The Title Lajwanti

            Lajwanti is a Punjabi word for ‘Touch-me-not’, the flower that withers its leaves upon human contact. This leaf represents all those women who suffered Trauma and Violence during partition. The title also refers to ‘Lajwant’ the protagonist of the story, was a dark-skinned, thin girl, delicate as the Lajwanti leaf and she also suffered in the riots resulting in the partition of India. So the title of the story is significant.

Summary & Analysis of The Story

            During the partition of India, both side’s many women were abducted, including Lajwanti, the protagonist of the story. To bring back the abducted women the campaign was started by the residents of ‘Mula Shakoor’. They set up a committee named ‘Rehabilitate them in your heart’. Sunder Lal, an abusive husband, whose own wife Lajwanti went missing during the conflict was elected as a secretary of the committee.

            The committee was formed because many women who came back were rejected by their families and told to commit suicide because they were tarnished and no longer acceptable in the community.

            Lajwanti was a dark skin, girl who was as delicate as the Lajwanti leaf. She was also suffering from this conflict and was abducted. Sunder Lal had asked the people to treat these girls as each female deserves. A woman named Masdula Sara Bai brought some women back, but unfortunately, Laju was not there with her. But Sunder Lal never gave up and once again moved on to find his Laju. At the same time, there were also some men who were refusing to accept their wives.

            Narayan who was the leader of various Hindus was against this committee. He believed that no women who had been raped or abducted should be ‘Bring Back’. He always used to give examples for this incident related to Ramayana, ‘How did Lord Ram not accept Sita? Sunder Lal gets angry after hearing the statement of Narayan and an argument takes place between the two.

            Suddenly one morning Lal Chand who lives in the same village congratulates Sunder Lal stating that he saw Laju. Sunder Lal did not believe him, he said that she must be someone else. But with the confidence of Lal Chand convinced him that it was Laju. Lal Chand had started to give him descriptions like a tattoo on her chin and another on her neck. Yes, Yes, Sunder Lal replied and said a third tattoo on her forehead.

            One day Pakistan delivered 16 women and received 16 in back. Sunder Lal was getting ready to visit the border town of Amritsar, after reaching there he slowly moved to Chauki Kalan the place for the delivery of many abducted women.

            Luckily Laju stood in front of him. She was dressed up like a Muslim woman. She had become like more fairer and healthier than before. After returning home Sunder Lal ignored all the voices which were against them. He was happy that he got his wife back to their home. Now Laju started feeling a little bit relaxed because of Sunerlal’s gentle behaviour.

Sunder Lal also neglected her feelings and the pain that she had gone through. Once Lajwanti started talking about Jumma with whom she was there. Sunder Lal asked Laju, was he good to you, and he didn’t beat you? In answer to that Laju replied that he was never hard on me and I was very afraid of him.

            Lajwanti also says that you used to beat me but I never felt afraid of you. Sunder Lal is ashamed of herself for ill-treating her.

Conclusion

            Thus, Lajwanti by Rajinder Singh Bedi explores the plight of helpless women who were abducted on both sides of the
newly-etched border and their subsequent rehabilitation. The author points out the stark and shameful reality of Rehabilitation. The author points out the stark and shameful reality of the Rehabilitation process. Overall, Lajwanti is the story of some women who were abducted and got some acceptance some got ignored.

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Feminism In India and West

Feminism In India & Feminism In West

Literature, Essay, Indian Literature, Non-Fiction
Feminism In India and West
Feminism In India and West

Introduction

            “Feminism” is an Ideology that demands equal rights for men and women in terms of politics decision-making, career, and having Children. It is considered a struggle to achieve the same rights, opportunities, and dignity as men have in society.

            About half of the global human population is women. At every step, all over the world, women face inequality subordination, and secondary class status. Before the first Industrial Revolution, human life was not male-dominated and both men and women contributed equally in society. The Industrial Revolution began in England in about 1750-1760 and lasted sometime between 1820 and 1840. During this period women were restricted to the domestic atmosphere and men started to work in industries. As a result, women remain vulnerable socially politically, and economically.

Definition of Feminism

            The term “Feminism” came into use during the 1890s but its origin can be traced to the late 17th century. There is no fixed definition of Feminism and it has a variety of meanings and interpretations. In different fields of life, we define feminism according to its own social, political, religious, and cultural perspective.

In short, “Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexiest exploitation and oppression.”

            According to the Cambridge Dictionaries, Feminism can be seen as “The belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state.”

            As a social movement, the main Characteristics and demands of Feminism include:

  • The Right of an Education.
  • Equal pay in work the workplace.
  • Reproductive Rights.
  • Women’s suffrage.
  • Fighting against gender stereotypes and performative behaviour.
  • Protection against sexual harassment and assault.
  • The rights of own property.

                        The general purpose of Feminism through centuries is to establish opportunities and results for women equal to those allotted to men. There are four distinct waves of feminism that align with the period of time.

These waves are –

WavesTime PeriodIssues
First19th to 20th CenturyRight of Vote
Second1960s to 1980sDomesticity & Sexuality
Third1990s to 2000sDiversity & Intersectionality
Fourth2000 to presentEmpowerment

The Portrayal Of Women and Feminism In India

            Indian Women have been facing challenges in the form of Inequalities, and mental and physical violence acts. The portrayal of Feminism in Indian Literature is considered to be one of the most debated topics.

            The portrayal of Feminism in Indian Literature goes back to ancient Indian History. “Ramayana” is considered to be one of the Greatest epics of Indian Literature written by Valmiki. In this epic, the Characters of women have depicted the real condition of Indian Women in the Ancient period. The Character of Sita who is the Wife of Lord Ram has justified the power and strength of her husband Rama. She has also been portrayed as vulnerable without her husband. The epic has made Lord Rama an Exemplary protagonist at the cost of the Rejection of his wife. She gave “Agni Priksha” to prove her purity to become Ram’s wife when she returned from Lanka.

            Toru Dutt, a 19th-century Indian poet, expressed her pain and grief through her poem “Sita” and questioned the dominance of Indian Patriarchal society.

Feminism In The Indian Context

Feminism in the Indian Context can be divided into three Phase

First Phase – 1850 to 1915

            The first phase of Indian feminism was started in the mid-nineteenth century. At this time India was to assimilate the Western idea of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. The first phase of Indian Feminism was initiated by men to uproot the social evils of Sati-Pratha and allow widow remarriage. Indian societies also forbid child marriage and to reduce illiteracy. However, as nationalist movements emerged in India, Indian society was improving the status of women by the late 19th century.

Second Phase – 1915 to 1947

            During this period the struggle against colonial rule intensified. Nationalism became the pre-eminent cause. Gandhi legitimized and expanded Indian women’s public activities by initiating them into the non-violent civil disobedience movement against the British Raj. Peasant women played an important role in rural Satyagrah as of Borsad and Bardoli. Women-only organizations like ‘All India Women’s Conference’ and the ‘National Federation Od Indian Women’ emerged Women were grappling with issues relating to the scope of women’s political participation, women’s franchise, communal awards, and leadership roles in political parties.

Third Phase, Post 1947

            Post-independence Indian literature has portrayed the condition of women in new dimensions. The real suffering of a peasant woman in rural India can be witnessed in ‘Nactor in a Sieve’ a novel by ‘Kamala Markandaya’. This novel has a story of woman and her husband in an Indian village who were exploited by money lenders.

            ‘Rukmani’ the lead female character of the Novel, is a rural Indian woman who did not receive, education, financial security, and societal support.

            On the other hand the novel “Voices in the City” by ‘Anita Desai’ has stressed freedom and facing realities in the lives of Indian Women.

 Depiction Of Women In the 21st Century

            Indian Society has been going through several changes in establishing an identity for women. “The Binding Vine” a novel by ‘Shashi Deshpande’ has highlighted marital rape. Another contemporary author, ‘Shobha De’ has highlighted the emotional and sexual needs of an Indian middle-class woman through her story “Second Thoughts”.

Development of Feminism in West

            The concept of Feminism Movement got proper prominence and importance in the 1960s. Earlier, Feminism was limited to some female writers but the increased number of Female writers and the representation of Women characters in the fiction world drew large attention in the Literature. The evolution of the feminist movement in Western literature is as follows:

First Wave Of Feminism

            First-wave Feminism is mainly concerned with the treatment of women in a male-dominated society. The Major works that raised the issues of Feminism during this phase are Mary Ellman’s ‘Thinking about Women (1968), Kate Millet’s Sexual Politics, and Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch. Many important works of male writers have been studied in order to analyse the attitude of male towards women and society.

Second Wave Of Feminism

            Second Wave is concerned with women’s writings including Ellen More’s Literary Women, Elaine Showalter’s, A Literature of Their Own, Nina Baym’s Women’s Fiction, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s The Mad Woman in Attic, and Margaret Human’s Women Writers and Poetic Identity.

            Elaine Showalter’s ‘A Literature of Their Own Published in 1970. This phase chiefly explores the relationship between females and literature and texts were analyzed to understand the treatment of female characters by the male in the society.

Showalter proposed three stages in the history of Women’s writing

Feminine Phase (1840-1880), in which women writers imitated dominant male artistic norms and aesthetic standards.

Feminist Phase (1880-1920), in which radical approach has been maintained and at last.

Female Phase (1920 to onwards), primarily focused on female writing focused on female writing and female experiences.

            ‘Mary Wollstonecraft’, one of the authors who wrote about Feminism, advocated in her ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women that women must be treated equally because they have to play a crucial and vital role in society, especially in bringing up children.

            She attacked male thinkers and scholars like Rousseau who argued that women did not need education but she supported education as a means of women’s improvement.

            American activist, “Margaret Fuller” one of the famous female writers of the 19th century, in her Women in the Nineteenth Century, in her “Women in the Nineteenth Century” believed that education is the means of emancipation for women and her key planks are education, employment, and politics.

            While in the 20th century ‘Virginia Woolf’ a modernist and Female Victorian author, explored gender reaction in her ‘A Room of One’s Own’ and ‘Three Guineas’. She remarks a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. She advocates for the liberation of women, financial independence, and the right to reveal feelings and experiences through words.

            Whereas ‘Simone De Beauvoir favors that there is no essence of the woman and that a woman is constructed by men. She states in her feminism manifesto of The Second Sex, ‘One is not born a woman but become one.’

Conclusion

            Feminism questions the long-standing, dominant, male, interpretations and patriarchal attitude. Feminism has empowered the confidence of women and provided individuality identification in Patriarchal Society.

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